Malden students overcome homelessness to earn diplomas

In many ways, Malden resident Paulo Valverde is a regular teenager. He has a part-time job at a pet store, volunteers at the Franklin Park Zoo, and likes to make music and hang out with his friends.

But unlike his friends, Valverde spent most of his senior year of high school living on his own, renting a room in an apartment.

Valverde was one of 30 Boston-area graduates – including six others from Malden – to attend a celebration last week hosted by YouthHarbors held at the Boston Public Library. The gathering was to highlight the accomplishments of recent grads who faced homelessness as high schoolers but ultimately beat the odds on their way to earning a diploma.

A system of support

Homeless students are 87 percent more likely to drop out of high school than their classmates, according to a Tufts University study. YouthHarbors convened last week’s celebration for graduates who had received the program’s support during their time in school.

Founded in 2009 by the Justice Resource Institute, YouthHarbors has assisted more than 500 students in need through partnerships with public high schools in Malden, Everett, Somerville, and Boston. In those schools, YouthHarbors case workers work with staff to identify at-risk students and provide services and care.

Up to 6,000 children in Massachusetts are estimated to be unaccompanied and homeless, according to a 2013 state report. The same report indicates that homeless high school students experience higher rates of rape, teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol use, and depression and suicidal thoughts than their classmates.

Young adults ages 18-22 can receive emergency shelter, food, and supplies as well as long-term housing through YouthHarbors, explains program director Dave Dorvilier. And that’s just the beginning: program participants attend workshops to learn domestic skills and financial literacy, while case managers provide ongoing mentoring and emotional support. That’s all with the goal of helping students graduate from high school and preparing them for what comes next.

And the program gets results. Ninety-seven percent of YouthHarbors students graduate from high school, according to data provided by Dorvilier.

He says students served by YouthHarbors have often experienced trauma, ranging from physical or sexual abuse, abandonment or neglect, to chronic emotional abuse.

“A lot of these students are very strong. They’re very able to manage their emotions to an extent. They’re able to survive,” Dorvilier says. “What we want to do is try to help them not just to survive, but to be able push their brains from a survival mode to more of a thinking mode. And really focus on their academics, focus on their future, whatever it is that they want to do. The one thing you can never take away from these kids, who have had a lot of things taken away from them, is their education and their options and their opportunities.”

‘Scary, but liberating’

Valverde hasn’t been in touch with his parents since the fall when they found out he is gay. Because of their religious and ideological beliefs, Valverde says, he was afraid of their reaction. He’d come out first to a trusted teacher, who connected him with the school social worker, Valverde says, and that’s how he landed with YouthHarbors.

His parents could not be supportive after discovering his sexuality, Valverde reflects now, and living at home with them was tortuous and unsustainable.

Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth are more likely than their peers to become homeless, primarily due to family conflict. Up to 40 percent of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ according to the True Colors Fund, a national nonprofit.

YouthHarbors found an apartment for Valverde and has helped cover his monthly rent. Now, living on his own, Valverde says it’s been scary but also liberating.

“There’s no one here to hold my hand anymore. There’s no one here to make sure I’m in bed by nine o’clock,” Valverde says. “I like having the responsibility.”

Like most of his peers, the recent Malden High School graduate is getting ready for his future.

“I’m really happy that I have graduated and made it past high school, because now I have time to move on and progress in my life,” Valverde says. He plans to study biotechnology at Bunker Hill Community College, and hopes to one day live in San Francisco.

Graduation, and beyond

Malden Mayor Gary Christenson says the city is lucky to partner with YouthHarbors. In fact, Malden High School was the first YouthHarbors partner school back in 2009. Christenson credits the program with reducing the school system’s dropout rate over the last eight years to around 2 percent.

“In the meetings and graduation ceremonies I have attended,” Christenson wrote in a statement, “I have not only been impressed with the caliber of the program in serving our most vulnerable students but also thankful for their hard work and dedication in helping our students succeed.”

For program director Dorvilier, the annual YouthHarbors graduation ceremony is a moment to reflect on the strength of individuals such as Valverde.

“We’re really able to see how much this journey, for a lot of these students, is the forging of identities: the ability to persevere, to make it through, to acknowledge their vulnerabilities but also be able to acknowledge strengths,” says Dorvilier, “hanging in there and getting to where they want to be.”